Credit card signup bonuses remain an excellent way to get lots of miles and points, IF you understand what you’re doing. If you’re just starting out, you might want to try my Beginner’s Guide, or ask questions on our flame free #beginners channel of the Points with a Crew miles and points Facebook group
It should go without saying that you should not sign up for a credit card just because some guy on the Internet said to!
Having said that, there are a few pretty good credit card offers whose signup bonuses are temporarily increased. I do have affiliate links for many of these cards if you would like to support Points With a Crew. Those can be found on our top travel credit offers page.
1. Delta Amex Gold and Platinum cards – 60K and 70K Delta miles
The two Delta American Express cards are up at a higher than normal bonus – 60,000 for the Gold card and 70,000 Skymiles for the Platinum card. For more information on those cards, check out Get ready for takeoff with Delta’s increased signup bonuses!
2. Barclay Arrival – 50K points
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® is one of my favorite cards as it’s my go to whenever I am not meeting a minimum spend on a card or have a category bonus.
The signup bonus is up to 50,000 Arrival miles (regularly 40,000)
3. Citi AA Platinum and Platinum Business – 60K AA miles
The bonuses on the 2 Citibank American Airlines Platinum cards (personal and business) are up to 60,000 (regularly 50,000 miles). Annual fee is $95, waived the first year.
4. Barclay AA Aviator card – 50K with no minimum spend
If you want AA miles but without a purchase requirement, the AAdvantage® AviatorTM Red World Elite MasterCard® signup bonus is up to 50,000 American Airlines miles after your first purchase (and payment of the $95 annual fee, not waived)
5. Southwest 60K – good for Companion Pass
Another airline card that is regularly at 50,000 miles and is now up to 60,000 miles as a signup bonus are the 2 Southwest Airlines cards. The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card both have a bonus of 60,000 miles. If you are approved for both of those (probably difficult to get approved for both of those in the same day), and met the signup requirements, you’d earn the Southwest Companion Pass. Even if you only get one of those cards, you could get another card later in the year to meet the 110,000 Rapid Rewards point requirement for the Companion Pass.
Yes, ideally you want to wait till the beginning of the year to get the CP, since you’ll have it the rest of the year you earn it AND the full year after that, but who knows if/how the rules might change in 2018.
6. Amex Biz Blue – 20K; 2 MR / $1 spent
This is not technically an “increased” signup but the new Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express card has a signup bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards AND gets 2 Membership Rewards for every dollar spent. We have already reviewed this card before and this is one that I personally signed up for a few weeks ago.
Again, do not sign up for a card just because some guy on the Internet says to. But if you plan on signing up for these offers and wish to support PWaC, you can find several of these offers on our top travel credit offers page, or, many of these offers are available publicly from the issuers themselves, if you prefer to give that money to the credit card company instead.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Hey Dan,
I have the Barclay Aviator card that was converted from the USAir card. Can I apply for the Barclay aviator card with 50k points?
Thanks!
Well you can always APPLY for any card you want…. whether you’ll get approved is another story :-). I would not expect you to get approved if you still have the old Aviator card. If you cancel that one, you might have a better chance. I have gotten multiple bonuses on Barclaycard cards but never while I still had one open
Hmmmmm I am so on the fence of what to do. I am 2/24 for chase right now. I was hoping to wait for Southwest at the end of the year like they always have the bonus so I could get the CP for 2 years.
What would you do?
Well it’s hard to say since I’m not you :-). I personally would not hold out for the companion pass as with 8 of us, the CP is just not that valuable. All depends on where you want to go and what cards can help get you there